Editorial: Why The Star is publishing

A free press overrides all

Last week, at the request of the Public Defender's Office and the District Attorney's Office, Superior Court Judge Kenneth Riley issued a "gag order" restraining the Ventura County Star from printing information it had gathered from search warrants in the Calvin Sharp murder case. Monday, Judge Riley vacated the gag order, stating the order was unenforceable.

Judge Riley, however, set the date for vacating the order until 5 p.m. Wednesday. He did so to give the Public Defender's Office and the District Attorney's Office time to seek relief with the state Court of Appeal.

The Star has been respectful and patient with the court while maintaining from the very outset that the gag order was unconstitutional. Efforts by The Star's attorney to bring this matter quickly to the court were rebuffed, and although we're grateful Judge Riley agreed to a hearing Monday and recognized our First Amendment right to publish, his two-day delay is unacceptable.

In granting this delay, Judge Riley is extending a courtesy to the Public Defender's Office and the District Attorney's Office that he did not extend to The Star when he imposed his invalid gag order. In fact, The Star was not afforded the courtesy of challenging the request from the Public Defender's Office and the District Attorney's Office.

The decision of The Star to publish the story online Monday and on today's Page One is not about courtesies. It is about the proper administration of the law and recognizing that constitutional rights cannot be subordinated. There are literally volumes of case law reaffirming the right of a free press to publish without censorship or prior restraint by the government or the courts.

It is the very core of the principle of a free press. There can be no free press, no free expression of any kind if the government has the power to decide what can be published and when it can be published. The Supreme Court has made this principle abundantly clear, and even Judge Riley's decision to vacate his gag order recognizes that.

To order the further delay of publication of the information even two days is simply an authority Judge Riley does not have. The Star is publishing this information not out of disrespect for the court or Judge Riley, but because it is exercising the constitutional right of a free press to publish public information without restraint.